Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Fouquet-Mucha brooch: Giants of Art Nouveau reunited in Southend
21 July 2025A large gold, enamel and gemset jewel combining the talents of two of the biggest names in French Art Nouveau has surfaced for sale in Southend-on-Sea.
Somerset collection tells perambulator history
21 July 2025The antiques and vintage sale at Gardiner Houlgate in Corsham on July 31 includes the Swift collection of antique prams.
Why Child & Child was the artist’s choice
21 July 2025Walter Child (1840-1930) and Harold Child (1848-1915), the sons of an East End pawnbroker who left a fortune of £30,000, opened as art jewellers in 1880 at 1 Seville Street, Belgravia.
Elizabethan grasshopper ring jumps to £42,000
21 July 2025A previously unrecorded Elizabethan gold and enamel signet ring, a gift from the influential Tudor financier and merchant, Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-79), sold for £42,000 at Noonans (24% buyer’s premium).
Dior brooch chimes again, this time at Birmingham auction
21 July 2025Just a month after a rare Christian Dior (1905-57) musical brooch was sold Tajan in Paris, two more examples appeared for sale at Fellows’ (30% buyer’s premium inc VAT) Handbags & Accessories auction in Birmingham on June 24.
Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet flies to 14 times estimate
21 July 2025A modestly estimated Van Cleef & Arpels, 18ct yellow gold gem set charm bracelet from c.1960 did particularly well for Dreweatts.
‘At the height of Cartier’s creative prowess’
21 July 2025Crowning the summer jewellery sales was the spectacular Cartier London turquoise and diamond tiara from 1930 offered by Bonhams (28/27/21/14.5% buyer’s premium).
‘Antiques Roadshow’ brooch comes to south London saleroom
21 July 2025A Chaumet Art Deco white gold, rock crystal, diamond and ruby lapel clip brooch seen in a 1990s episode of Antiques Roadshow reappeared at a recent Roseberys (26/25/20% buyer’s premium) jewellery auction in West Norwood, London.
The Waste Land – as typeset by Woolf
21 July 2025While TS Eliot’s poem 'The Waste Land' had appeared in book form in the US in 1922 – and in two magazines the same year – the edition published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press in Richmond, Surrey in 1923 was the first in the UK.
Giants of Art Nouveau reunited in Southend as striking brooch doubles estimate
18 July 2025A large gold, enamel and gemset jewel combining the talents of two giants of French Art Nouveau has surfaced for sale in Southend-on-Sea.
First part of the Michael Baggott silver collection raises nearly £100,000 at auction
17 July 2025Woolley & Wallis sold the first tranche of the private collection and stock of silver specialist Michael Baggott (1973-2025) on July 16.
Only known portrait that Gandhi sat for sells for £120,000
17 July 2025A portrait of Mahatma Gandhi – believed to be the only oil painting for which the leader of the Indian independence movement sat – has sold for £120,000.
Huge collection of antique prams comes to auction in Wiltshire
15 July 2025The antiques and vintage sale at Gardiner Houlgate in Corsham on July 31 includes the Swift collection of antique prams.
Union Castle sign sails to UK’s second highest price
14 July 2025A large maritime-themed advertising sign featuring the passenger liner Capetown Castle sold for £22,000 at bottles and advertising specialists BBR Auctions on July 6. The sale, part of the Summer National collecting event in Elsecar, near Barnsley, featured some of the best finds in this burgeoning collecting hobby.
Pick of the week: Renowned collector Dailey adds ear of a war horse to his purchases
14 July 2025The latest Homes & Interiors sale at Sworders included an extraordinary and highly personal relic from the Waterloo battlefield: a silver-mounted inkwell made from the ear of a war horse.
‘Critter’ bookends and Doulton mask make for lively sale
14 July 2025Back in July 2019, Lawrences in Crewkerne set a new high for a Mouseman carving when a pair of elephant bookends by master carver Stan Dodds (1928-2012) sold at £10,000.
Dealer's collection yields ‘white glove’ sale in Sussex
14 July 2025Battle saleroom Burstow & Hewett (20% buyer’s premium) recently sold the ‘contents of a Sussex manor house’ – the lifetime collection of a local antiques collector and dealer.
Set of gold dinars coming to auction reveal that 77 is the magic number
14 July 2025On July 23 London-based specialist coin and medal auction house Morton & Eden is offering a complete set of 56 Umayyad gold dinars dating from years 77 to 132 in the Hijra calendar (696-750AD).
RW Martin pond full of life at a £15,000 hammer price
14 July 2025This stoneware pond by Robert Wallace Martin, measuring 6ft 6in (2m) across, comprises 40 architectural elements, each incised with fish and aquatic creatures among water weeds.